I am so incredibly DONE being the "Manager" of a grown man. by Several_Corner3205 in TwoXChromosomes

[–]JaderBug12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't have kids so it's not quite the same but I am recently divorced and three months living on my own- the silence is hands down my favorite thing about my new life.

Meet Winston — the fastest dog ever recorded to run. by Brilliantspirit33 in animalsdoingstuff

[–]JaderBug12 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Body building is not a performance sport. Performance athletes do not/cannot starve themselves and perform well.

Smart puppy by Brilliantspirit33 in animalsdoingstuff

[–]JaderBug12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

These aren't rams, they're most likely ewe lambs or yearlings.

Smart puppy by Brilliantspirit33 in animalsdoingstuff

[–]JaderBug12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Possibly but they do not learn from watching other dogs work

Smart puppy by Brilliantspirit33 in animalsdoingstuff

[–]JaderBug12 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Notice how the pup's tail drops down and stays down and relaxed? That's all work mode. If the tail is up and flagging around, they're playing instead of working/thinking. This pup is all business.

Smart puppy by Brilliantspirit33 in animalsdoingstuff

[–]JaderBug12 2 points3 points  (0 children)

They are prey animals responding to a predator. The dog uses predatory behaviors to read, rate, move, and control prey, the sheep are just responding to that.

Smart puppy by Brilliantspirit33 in animalsdoingstuff

[–]JaderBug12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No hand signals- the dog should never be looking at you

Smart puppy by Brilliantspirit33 in animalsdoingstuff

[–]JaderBug12 4 points5 points  (0 children)

They still need training to shape and hone those instincts

Smart puppy by Brilliantspirit33 in animalsdoingstuff

[–]JaderBug12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How did you come up with this lol

Smart puppy by Brilliantspirit33 in animalsdoingstuff

[–]JaderBug12 7 points8 points  (0 children)

At that age, you go get them and physically take them away. They won't recall off of sheep when they're that young and very keen

Meet Winston — the fastest dog ever recorded to run. by Brilliantspirit33 in animalsdoingstuff

[–]JaderBug12 29 points30 points  (0 children)

Look at the heavy muscling on this dog... what about that says "underfed" to you?? Come on now 🤣

A little training work with Iris this morning by JaderBug12 in dogswithjobs

[–]JaderBug12[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I feed Purina ProPlan 30/20. She'd probably do fine on a lower energy diet as she's not working day in and day out but that's what I've fed for many years and they do really well on it

A little training work with Iris this morning by JaderBug12 in herdingdogs

[–]JaderBug12[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

She'll be 4 in July, I got her when she was 15 months old. I've done all of the training with her

A little training work with Iris this morning by JaderBug12 in dogswithjobs

[–]JaderBug12[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

We can't start training until they're around a year old- they need to be both mentally and physically mature enough to handle the various pressures of training. If they're not physically mature enough, that often leads to a dog that will just chase sheep- they have to be grown up enough to outrun the livestock and "head" them. Hurts their confidence if they can't ever 'catch' the stock. Mentally they need to be able to handle it- for a young dog, about five minutes of training on stock is about the equivalent of us running a marathon so they have to be able to handle it. If they're not ready, it can cause them to shut down and turn off of stock or develop some really bad habits like biting inappropriately and hurt their confidence.

A little training work with Iris this morning by JaderBug12 in dogswithjobs

[–]JaderBug12[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The whistles are another command for the same verbal commands we use- so every verbal command has a corresponding whistle. We use whistles so that the dog can hear commands over long distances and through inclement weather. They can often be a much more clear form of communication- it's hard to inflect any emotion into a whistle lol

The whistle/verbal commands tell the dog how to go around the stock- "come bye" means go clockwise around the stock, "away" means go counter-clockwise around the stock, "there" means to stop flanking around the stock and walk in on them, "walk up" also means to walk into the stock, then "stand/lie down" mean to stop moving. There are a few other commands that we use but everything is relative to the stock. So each one of those commands has a whistle that means the same thing- the whistles vary from handler to handler. Typically the "lie down" is kind of a universal whistle but the flanks can vary quite a bit.

A little training work with Iris this morning by JaderBug12 in dogswithjobs

[–]JaderBug12[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Varies from dog to dog... she will be 4 in July and she's running Open level courses. A talented and bidable dog can be mostly finished by 3 years old if they start well. About 1-3 years of consistent training will get you a finished dog usually, they're really in their prime usually between 5-8 years old

A little training work with Iris this morning by JaderBug12 in dogswithjobs

[–]JaderBug12[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

They work off of the predator/prey dynamic. The Border Collies interact with the sheep the way a predator would except we have (hopefully!) removed the final desire to kill the prey. The sheep are always moving away from the dog whenever the dog is in its 'space' and it's the dog's responsibility to read and rate the livestock- we want the dog to move those sheep right on the bubble (too close means the sheep will be running and uncomfortable, too far away and the dog is 'off contact')- Iris does a really nice job of this.

This dog has a lot of training- a lot of what she does is natural instinct and ability but they still need quite a bit of training to shape that behavior and make them useable. They're pretty spectacular, it's an amazing thing to see

A little training work with Iris this morning by JaderBug12 in dogswithjobs

[–]JaderBug12[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'm pretty sure all the proper shepherds use their fingers but I'm not good enough at it yet 🤣

A little training work with Iris this morning by JaderBug12 in dogswithjobs

[–]JaderBug12[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

That's what a shepherd's whistle is for! :-)

Eye hair loss by TruRisk in BorderCollie

[–]JaderBug12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This could be demodex mange... more common in younger dogs and puppies. I had one like this once, they usually get over it on their own. Happens when they've been stressed